To think that central heating is a thing of the past?

[hiddenhome]

More and more people seem to be unable to afford to use their central heating

How long before we all go back to just having a fire in the lounge?

We no longer use our central heating and think of it as an unaffordable luxury. We've even had radiators removed as they were taking up room. We just have a multifuel stove that we use to heat the lounge and open the door if we want heat upstairs overnight.

TEErickOrTEEreat the thing is, there are those of us that already sacrifice holidays, car and enough food as we have to heat our houses because of having family members in ill health. Despite all the sacrifices, the heating is a luxury that we cannot afford.
In order to make ends meet, I have cut what I eat down to the bare minimum, have minimal clothes; I have one work outfit which I wash daily and iron dry. We have no holidays and only have a car because we have been able to borrow one from a relative. Heating is another luxury, however I have to be able to afford it as one of my family members has an illness which means that they need to keep warm. We don't heat the house above 18 but we need to do that but struggle with the bills as it is, I am dreading having to turn the heating on again. So far we haven't need it since last winter.

There's always someone worse off than you. And there are people worse off from than me.

What I am mostly objecting too, actually, is the apparent competition on this thread about who is suffering the most.

The world sucks. Our government doesn't give two shits about you or me because we have less than millions and really don't give two shits that you can't afford heat or food or new clothes.

I personally am hated violently by the government because I'm an immigrant, disabled and don't work at least 16 hours a week.

So do something about it. I do what I can but I have no right of franchise as I'm not a citizen. If you are? Write your MP. Call them. Start a FB page. Do something other than 'brag' about how fucking cold and broke you are.

It isn't that nobody cares about the old being cold (they do get a fuel allowance after all which no one else on a low income gets). It is just that more people on low incomes can't afford heat because fuel prices are shocking relative to more and more incomes.

Firewood and coal are pretty expensive though.

I grew up without CH & I love it. One of the benefits of living in a tiny flat, is though we are overcrowded we are warm - it heats up really quickly and I'm thankful I have the heating on without concern.

I've also just switched energy supplier to a fixed rate over winter so it shouldn't be any more expensive.

I don't use my central heating. I do have a fire in my sitting room.
I am already back in the Dark Ages.

my rich parents get the winter fuel allowance.

I am at a loss as to why

I fuel my fire by collecting logs from the nearby woods. Many people have laughed at me for this: you know what? I don't care. Logs keep me warm and they are free.

Log fires are inefficient, all the heat goes up the chimney.

My parents recently had theirs removed and got a wood stove. Now that is warm! Rest of the house is bloody freezing, mind....

DidotheDodo, that's how my parents fuel their fire too. They collect wood rather than pay for it. What's wrong with that? I don't get it!

pobble nothing wrong with it at all, but walking through the village with arm loads of logs causes comment (probably from people who can afford their central heating). There is the added benefit of getting really warm while sawing it up too.

Like some others , I would prioritise some heat over some food if I had too. I cant operate or think if I am not warm enough. And cant sleep properly either. Electric blankets are cheap to run and keep people warm at night.

Are you secretly my parents? [Grin]

They live in a village too and are always looking for bits of wood for the fire, they've got a massive pile of it outside their house.

Well that didn't work. Have another one

YAB a bit U. I live in a new build house, we have a house full of radiators and no fire in the living room) or any other room either. We don't even have a chimney breast so there's actually nowhere to put a fire in any of the rooms in our house.

Threads like these always turn into a who can live in the coldest house competition.

I have lived in a house without central heating, through the coldest winter in decades. I remember the misery of shivering in a house with ice all the way up the insides of the windows. I am simply not prepared to live like that again. I will do without other things in life rather than freeze.

We are fortunate that we had solar panels installed 18 months ago, and the feed in tariff goes a long way to subsidise our utility bills (all of our utilities, except water are with one supplier, so all of our bills get the rebate).

Our heating goes on when it is cold and off when it is warm.

I think there's a huge divide between people living in double glazed terraces and flats in the south (especially London), for whom central heating is simple and cheap (more expensive than it used to be, but still very efficient), and people living in detached houses in the rural north. I remember DH's Welsh flat where we used to go to the cinema every Sunday just to be in the warm, and my Midlands corner bedsit with huge sash windows where I would sprint in, turn the gas fire on, and run back out to the bathroom to wait until the room was warm enough to enter.

You will take my cozy little London terrace from my (warm) dead hands.

pobble I can't possibly be BOTH your parents!!

I live in a Victorian terrace in the rural South East and when that Siberian wind blows in from the Steppes it is as cold here as the frozen north (where I used to live!)

We have ice on the inside of our windows almost every morning in the winter, but thick curtains stop it affecting the room too much. Couple of duvets on the bed and I'm fine. I was brought up like it, and actually find most people's houses stiflingly hot and stuffy.

(Tough old gimmer)

Aunty I live in a double glazed flat in a London suburb, but only with economy 7 storage heaters, I can tell you that during the real coldest snaps this winter it was absolutely frigid at night in our home, thats why we got an oil radiator for the bedrooms, if I could feel that cold in the South in a supposedly well insulated home, I dread to think how utterly arctic it most feel further North in even worse conditions.

I live in a terraced and we recently had double glazing fitted. Our living room is rarely below 21 degrees now.

Dido I'm not sure I believe you. I think you're secretly my mum. Get off mn!

Ho ho...

YABU. Not in my house. I cannot bear being cold.

When I lived by myself in a little terrace, I would have the heating on as much as possible and me and the cats would sit there, eyes bulging with the heat, it was marvellous.

I would give up so many things before I gave up central heating.

After a mega bill last year due to my cavalier usage of central heating I am being really controlled this year. So far so good, I've had it on for an hour at lunchtime today and the house is still at about 18 degrees. Probably won't put it on now till tomorrow.

I do without other things in my life so that I can afford to put my heating on. Being warm is very important to me as I have circulatory problems. Incidentally, those of you with very cold houses, how do you dry your washing? If I don't bung mine on the radiators it stays wet for days and then smells. My house is quite damp though which doesn't help/

I lived for twelve months with no boiler so no heating and no hot water.It was very cold and annoying boiling the kettle but we did it.We literally had no heatibg not even a plug in heater.now i tend to put the heating on for an hour in the morning but only recently has it been cold.Heating is very expensive so i will limit it ( plus when im cold i get the ironing out and steam iron my clothes....toasty!)